


What's Your Number?

by ellatrobbie



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Case Fic, Densi partnership moments, F/M, Gen, I'm still not sure where this came from and why it's nearly 3000 words?, ish, it's like half a case, some banter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-12
Updated: 2013-11-12
Packaged: 2018-01-01 07:15:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1041937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellatrobbie/pseuds/ellatrobbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What do you mean you don’t remember, everyone remembers their number!”</p><p>“I had more important things to do in high school,” Deeks shrugs, grin playing on his lips.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Your Number?

**Author's Note:**

> a) None of these characters, or settings, belong to me but to the NCIS:LA writers and creators The possible ooc-ness, maybe a little bit mine.  
> b) This is approximately 2% edited and mostly written while I was tired, so I apologise for any mistakes, but I am super eager to post it so here it goes.  
> c) I'm not sure where this fic came from, the idea vaguely cropped up while I was trying to brainstorm for a completely different first fic, but it ran away and turned into this.  
> d) I'm also certain this occurred because I'm obsessed with the headcanon I have for Deeks being secretly very smart. Also, I'm kind of obsessed he went to law school and yet it's barely ever brought up. I just want to talk about all his skills and talents, okay?!  
> e) Aware I made a significant factual gaff. I'm looking into fixing it without affecting the story! :P

The bedroom looks like a bomb hit it which is maybe, no definitely, a bad choice of words. There was stuff everywhere. Mostly books. Kensi’s pretty sure this place had more books than a Barnes and Noble. Behind her Deeks clears his throat, she turns around and sees him smirking at her.

“Don’t say a word!” She warns him, raising a finger.

“What?!” he grins knowingly. She just glares at him before continuing to case the room. It would take a while to find anything even remotely important.

“So this... kid genius somehow knows something about a home-grown terrorist group,” She muses, bending down to look at a stack of papers next to the bed. Nonlinear Analysis and Approximation Theory. Okay, she’s not even gonna touch that.

“I don’t know if I’d say genius,” Deeks said, “Dude didn’t even have a password on his laptop.”

Kensi makes her way across the room, to where Deeks is leaning over the desk. She’s surprised he could even find the laptop amongst everything else. “Maybe he didn’t think he had anything to hide?”

“Then why is he currently hiding from the people that tried to kill him?” Deeks frowns and looks back at the laptop.

“Not much on here, actually. Maybe he wiped it.”

“We’ll get Eric to take a look at it.”

“Did you guys find any-” Callens voice comes from behind them, “or maybe not.”

“Our wünderkind here and Kensi have something in common,” Deeks grins at Sam and Callen as they enter the bedroom scanning the mess.

She punches him in the shoulder. “Owww!”

“So Mom and Dad have no idea why someone would shoot at and try to kidnap their son from outside the library. According to them Danny’s just regular high school senior.” Callen says, “They say he only had one phone, positive ID on the one he dropped at the scene.”

“The one that had a list of names from a home-grown terrorist group on it,” Sam reminds them grimly.

“Found his laptop, but there doesn’t seem to be anything important on it. We’ll take it to Eric, maybe there’s something he’s tried to hide,” she gestures to the laptop on the desk.

“The rest is... well, everywhere,” Deeks makes a face.

“Eric’s still working kaleidoscope and facial rec to see if we can find him or the guys in the van. Let’s see if we can find some names. Friends, maybe, that he would go to for help?” Callen suggests, walking over the bookcase that lined one of the walls. They browse the room in silence for a while, apart from Deeks who was humming the theme song from Doogie Howser.

Kensi goes to the side of the desk and opens the top drawer. Time to get started. “Oh wow,” she mutters, taking out a piece of paper.

The others turn to her straight away. “You find something?”

Kensi shakes her head, “Not for the case. But this is his SAT score. Kid got a 2390!”

Callen lets out a low whistle, “Impressive. When we find him maybe we should let Nell talk to him.”

“You know SAT scores don’t say anything about a person’s intelligence,” Sam raises an eyebrow.

“Sam’s only saying that because he bombed his SATs.”

“Hey,” Sam protests, “I served my country just fine without getting a 2400.”

Kensi and Callen grin at his annoyed face, before he continues, “Besides, it’s not like you knocked it out of the park.”

“You’re looking at a 2230!” Callen smirks.

“Yeah, I guess I forgot you didn’t have any friends in high school,” Sam chuckles.

Callen just looked at him pointedly before turning to Kensi, “What about you, Kens? What’s your number?”

“I don’t know how I feel about the level of honesty in this room,” she shook her head, ponytail swaying.

“You know I can always get Eric and Nell to find it,” Callen looks at her.

She sighs, it’s really no use fighting this. “Fine. It’s 2100. Apparently my vocabulary wasn’t up to scratch,” she frowns for a moment.

“That much is obvious, since you still can’t use touché correctly,” Deeks finally pipes up, having been unusually quiet. He was kneeling down by the bed, and only one doing still actually looking around the room.

“Oh yeah, what about you then, Mr. Touché?”

“Huh?” Deeks grunts, pulling something out from under the bed, “This guy may be a genius, but he’s got terrible taste in porn.”

“Thank you, gross.” She makes a face, while Sam and Callen just look amused.

“So what’s your SAT score?” Called prompts him. Deeks shoves the box back under the bed and stands up, brushing off his knees particularly thoroughly, “Oh, uh, I don’t remember.”

Kensi scoffs, “What do you mean you don’t remember, everyone remembers their number!”

“I had more important things to do in high school,” Deeks shrugs, grin playing on his lips.

Kensi holds up a hand, “Don’t say it!”

“Like Tracy Caldwell.” Deeks is still grinning.

“Okaaaay.”

“And Andrea Rider,” he adds thoughtfully.

“ You know, we’re gonna take the laptop back to Eric, see if he can find anything on it,” Kensi told Sam and Callen as she carefully unplugged the laptop and picked it up. The partners just watched as she and Deeks walked out.

 

* * *

 

Kensi pulled the car over and unbuckled her seatbelt. “So our guy’s best friend is Cory Grant.”

“Really, Cory Grant?” Deeks looks at her.

She shrugs, “I didn’t name him, maybe his parents liked the actor.”

“They should have named him the real thing then, Cory Grant sounds like a bad porn star.”

“Anyway.” She says seriously, but a smile was playing on her lips as she tried not to laugh. “He works part-time at that coffeeshop across the road. Shift ends in 15 minutes, thought we could catch him on the way home.”

Deeks hums in acknowledgement, keeping an eye on the shop, “And here I thought you just wanted to buy your partner some coffee?”

“No way. It is definitely your turn to buy the coffee,” Kensi replies, knowing that if she was confident enough, he’d give in.

“Okay, I see what you’re playing,” Deeks grins, “Maybe I’ll bite. But you’re on for tomorrow morning then.”

Kensi nods, then pauses, thinking about earlier. “Hey, you had to take the LSATS as well, right?

“Uh, that’s something to do with law right?” Deeks reigns confusion, before flashing her a grin.

She rolls her eyes at him, “So, what was your LSAT score?” she asks.

Deeks chuckles next to her, “Really?”

“Come on,” she says, pouting slightly at him, “You can’t have done that badly! I mean, you got into law school.”

“Okay firstly, your assumptions hurt me,” Deeks looks at her pointedly. She’d think he was upset if he didn’t have a smirk on his lips, “Secondly, standardised tests are a terrible measure of intelligence or skill so-”

“You’re beginning to sound like Sam,” She warns him.

“I - Hey, teenage boy leaving the alleyway by the coffee shop,” Deeks points out, undoing his seatbelt.

“That looks like the best friend,” Kensi nods, reaching for the door.

“Definitely looks like someone who resents being called Cory.”

As they cross the street, Kensi nudges her shoulder into his, “I’ll get those numbers out of you.” Deeks lets out a low laugh, and shakes his head but says nothing.

 

* * *

 

By the time they get back to OPS, Sam and Callen are already talking to Nell and Eric. The screen has photos of the missing kid, as well as the guys whose names were found on his phone.

“You get anything from the friend?” Sam asks as he turns away from the giant screen. Kensi and Deeks stand on the far side of the table, leaning against it at the same time.

“Not much, he hasn’t heard from Danny since yesterday and can’t remember him acting weird. He says that he kept everything on his laptop.”

“We found a bunch of files that were hidden pretty well. He knew what he was doing,” Eric interrupts.

“We’re decrypting them now, but it’s taking a while,” Nell adds, “A few more minutes, at least.”

They wait for a moment, before Callen grins suddenly, “Hey Nell, what was your SAT score?”

Nell looks at him, confused at the change in subject, “Uh, 2360. But I didn’t really have time to study for them because of my AP -”

“More like because you’re a freak -” Eric says and his eyes widen when Nell turned to him, “-Ishly intelligent being. You’re very intelligent.” He added quickly, pausing to swallow his nerves. “I got 2330. And I studied like a machine.”

Kensi turned to look at her partner, “See, Deeks. Everyone knows their number.”

“What’s this about?” Nell asked, glancing at Eric for a second. He smiles apologetically, before they both turn back to the team.

“Deeks won’t tell us his SAT score,” Callen sighs.

“Or his LSAT score. I asked in the car,” Kensi adds.

Deeks sighed loudly, “You guys know that you’re all obsessed with test scores, right?”

“You know,” Eric starts, “It would take me like 30 seconds to find them for you.”

“Ooooh yes,” Kensi grins at Deeks, who clears his throat loudly.

“Have you got those files yet?!” he asks, hitting his hand on the tabletop for good measure.

Callen and Sam share a raised eyebrow, just in time for Nell’s computer to beep. Eric and Nell simultaneously while turn to their computers and start typing.

“There’s a bunch of files, seems like he has information of each of the guys from his list.”

“This file has an extra encryption, give me a sec,” Eric mutters as he continues typing.

“Palimpsest,” Callen reads the file’s name, “What does that even mean?”

“Something that’s been overwritten,” Deeks answers absentmindedly, still looking at what was on the screen. It takes him a moment to notice the five people staring at him. “What?”

“Huh, thanks Webster,” Sam smirks at him.

 

* * *

 

“Okay so, the last file contained photos of a book that had invisible text printed in it.”

“Makes sense, this group is extremely paranoid about the internet,” Sam nods.

“So they use this book in the library as like a playbook?” Deeks asks, “The library database tells us that the book had been issued out once a year on the same day since 1999, until 2 months ago when Danny issues it and then yesterday – two hours after they tried to get Danny.”

“So this group uses this book to record all their plans, only taking it out when they need to reprint things into it,” Callen says

“It’s a textbook of outdated math theories, no one would look at it twice.”

“Somehow Danny stumbles onto the book and notices the hidden print,” Kensi adds. “Then the group notices Danny’s got to the book and gets suspicious.”

“Or paranoid,” Deeks muses.

Sam frowns and goes back to his desk, glancing up at Callen as he sits down. Deeks and Kensi are still leaning on their desks, looking over the pictures of the book on the screen.

“Hey Deeks, what does abstruse mean?” Sam asks, suddenly.

Deeks takes a moment before answering, “Hard to understand.”

“What about, uh, vicissitude?” Callen follows.

“Change,” Deeks says, then thinks, “or changeable. Why, what are you guys reading?”

Sam and Callen just grin at him, until Kensi leans over and glances at Callen’s laptop. Her face erupts in a grin as well. “They’re SAT words,” she explains.

“Are you guys testing me? Why is this even so important?” He asks, looking almost frustrated.

Callen shrugs, “We’re just curious, Deeks.”

“And you’re making us suspicious,” Sam looks at him pointedly.

“Guys,” Kensi starts. Deeks glances at her gratefully, until she continues, “He talks so much, of course his verbal skills are going to be good.”

“You’re right. Someone find a math problem for him,” Sam grins.

“Guys!” Eric calls from above them, “Kaleidoscope hit on the van used this morning, and the person it’s registered to. Details are on your phones.”

Deeks stands up immediately, “Alright. I’m going to go do my job and check out the van. You guys can continue being back in high school.” He makes his way out, without even waiting for Kensi.

 

* * *

 

“You’re mad at us,” she says when they pull up at OPS.

Callen and Sam were on their way to the boatshed with the van owner, but Eric had called them back after checking out the abandoned vehicle.

Deeks shakes his head, smile on his lips, “No, I’m not.” He gives her an amused look, but she knows him.

She pushes, still, “Why don’t you want to talk about your SATs? It’s not really a big - ”

Deeks sighs so loudly she actually stops talking. He doesn’t say anything for a while, before looking at her seriously, “I’ve been here for long enough, you’d think I wouldn’t have to prove myself anymore, especially not by some standardized test. My number isn’t a big deal because what’s important is how well I work with you and how straight I shoot. Maybe you guys should focus on that.”

She doesn’t know what to say at first, and he takes the chance to get out of the car and make his way into the building without her.

 

* * *

“Another case well done then,” Hetty walks up to the bullpen and the team are getting ready to leave.

“Van-owner confessed to renting out his van, lead us straight to the group.”

“Turns out when you’re afraid of the internet, you can leave quite a paper trail,” Callen adds.

“Plans for several small scale attacks have been uncovered, and all the members of the group will be charged,” Hetty nods, “And Danny?”

“Tried to access his email from a computer in a cyber cafe near Venice beach, Eric caught it. Kid’s just being trying to keep a low profile all day. He was pretty scared,” Sam explains.

“Very good, I’m glad he’s safe. Hopefully, he’ll focus his mind on something less dangerous now,” Hetty smiled and began to walk back to her office before stopping. “Oh, Mr. Deeks? A word, please.”

Deeks looks worried for a moment, and shoots the rest of the team a glance before following her to her desk.

“What’s up?” He asks, waiting as he sits herself down and looks up at him.

“I’ve overheard that the team seems quite interested in your test results, Mr. Deeks”

His smile drops, “Not you too? Why does it -“

“Oh I already know them,” she interrupts him; “Surely you don’t doubt how thorough my background checks are. I was very impressed.” She smiles at him, looking somewhat proud.

Deeks hesitates, scratches his head, before nodding at her, “Uh, thanks.”

“What I don’t understand is why you don’t want the rest of your team to know? Your accomplishments are something to be proud of.”

Deeks nods slowly and sits himself down in the seat opposite her. His voice is low, “It was important to my mom. She wanted me to get into a good college, even though we couldn’t afford it. I studied really hard, it’s not like it was easy. But that was then. Now, I’m a good cop, and I work well at NCIS. I don’t think my test scores from a lifetime ago should be important.”

Hetty watches him carefully as he talks, and waits for him to finish. “They do respect you, Mr. Deeks. And trust you. As do I.”

He looks at her pointedly, “That’s exactly why it shouldn’t matter.”

She smiles at him, almost knowingly, before taking a sip of her tea. He hadn’t even noticed the cup there before.

 

* * *

 

Kensi was waiting for him when he got to his car, leaning against the driver door with her arms crossed. She could have seemed angry if he hadn’t seen the soft concern on her face.

“You okay?” he asks as he gets closer.

“You wanna grab a drink, it’s on me?” Kensi offers, giving him a smile. Normally it wouldn’t be strange, except maybe for Kensi offering to pay, but there was something off in the way she was looking at him.

He raises an eyebrow at her for long enough and she shakes her head slowly, “An apology. And a peace offering. What you said before, you’re absolutely right. You shouldn’t- you don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.”

Deeks offers her a small smile and moves to leans against his car next to her. They stand in silence for a few moments, the air tense as she obviously waits for him to respond.

“Eric got you my scores, didn’t he?”

Her head whips around to face him, eyes wide and definitely guilty. She bites her lip, “In his defence, I may have threatened him.”

Deeks nods, chuckling but looking at his feet, “Rational.”

“I was cur-” Kensi tries explaining before shaking her head, “Deeks, you scored higher than Nell on your SATs! Your LSAT is in the 99th percentile. That’s amazing. Why are you not bragging about that every day? You can hold that over all our heads!”

He finally looks at her, and is surprised to see her looking so proud about it. “Maybe I’m just a better person?”

He shrugs. She rolls her eyes, a smile on her lips and punches him in the shoulder. It’s much gentler than usual though. “Come on, Genius. I’m buying.”


End file.
